Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) squirmed when confronted by CNN’s Jake Tapper about his claim that all Democrats are both socialists and anti-Semites.
“CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) for painting Democrats “with a rather broad brush” in his comments on Monday’s The Lead,” reported Mediate’s Jennifer Bowers Bahney.
Barney added that Scott told Tapper, “Well, I think the point is, you know, the Democrats have all become socialists. They’re antisemitic, they’re anti-police. They want open borders. They want bigger and bigger government. They hate fossil fuels.”
He added, “So, you know, it’s not where I can tell you where Floridians are. That’s not, you know, and that’s not how I won my races.I talked about balancing the budget and reducing regulation and focus on jobs. And that’s what, that’s how we’re going to win in November. And I’m still, Jake, I’m optimistic. We’re going to win. We have great candidates. We’ve raised money. So, as long as they get their message out, we’re going to win.”
This is not Scott’s first encounter with bad publicity due to a high profile news interview. Appearing on the CNN show hosted by anchor Kaitlin Collins in April, Scott was called out for an inconsistency in his views on the filibuster.
“They use this 60-vote threshold filibuster, which I think we ought to get rid of,” Scott told Collins.
“Just a moment,” Collins interjected. “Since you mentioned the filibuster and you said you should get rid of it, when Republicans were in the minority you described it repeatedly as vital and necessary to protect minority party’s rights. … Why do you have a different position now that Republicans are in the majority?”
Scott replied, “Well, let’s do the filibuster. But it means you talk. I mean, we’re not making people talk. The filibuster was set up – so I’m fine with if we were going to do the filibuster, where people have to talk. The filibuster … was … used to say, we’re going to have a conversation. And then at some point, once we’re done, we vote. I’m, I’m fine with that. But we don’t make people talk. So, if we’re not going to make people talk —”
“But Republicans are in charge,” Collins said.
“Well, I mean, look, I’m from Florida,” Scott responded. This is what I — this is what I believe in. I talk to the people in my state. They agree with me. I’ve been clear on what I believe.”
Despite these controversies, Scott has reportedly had his sights set on being the leader of the Senate Republicans.
“What has become eminently clear in recent weeks is that Scott — after a long career in business, two terms as governor and nearly eight years as senator — just isn’t a back-bench kind of guy,” Politico reported in June. “He has lots of thoughts on how the Senate should be run and a willingness to express them, even if it puts him at odds with Thune’s vision. The leader, who trounced Scott in a 2024 conference election, has largely avoided holding doomed votes that would split Republicans and, like many GOP senators, would like nothing more than to get past the months-long intra-party fight over the SAVE America Act, the elections bill pushed by Trump.”